"We haven't," said Katharine, getting up to leave. "Mr. Wilton's conversation, you see, is all bespoken already."
"Miss Austen is a little hard on me," said Paul. "I have had so little practice in conversation with brilliant and learned young lecturers, that—"
"That I will leave you to a less dismal companion," interrupted Katharine, a little abruptly.
"Will you allow me to suggest," he went on, as he held her hand for a moment, "that you should try and think more kindly of the particular friend who was so unpleasantly frank to you?"
"If I thought that the friend in question were likely to be affected by my opinion of him, perhaps I might," she said, as she turned away.
When she had gone, Marion asked him what he had meant.
"Merely a passing reflection on something she had been telling me," was his reply.
"Oh," said Marion, "did she tell you about her love affair?"
"My dear girl, Miss Austen is not likely to favour me with these interesting disclosures, is she? I didn't know she had a love affair, as you rather frankly express it."
"She isn't a bit the sort, is she? I only found it out this afternoon; he's an awful beast, I should think,—led her on, and treated her villainously, poor old Kitty! Isn't it a shame?"